Agricultural practice of "Term Day"

[GordonFindlay]

Hi

I have many "Ag Lab" ancestors from around the Tarves and Ythsie areas - Melvin is the most important name.

I came across a collection of short writings "Tarves Gaitherins" published by the Tarves Heritage Project some years ago. In one piece "A Cottar Bairn's Reminiscences c1935" there is reference to a Term Day (28th May) on which each year her father moved the family to another part of Aberdeenshire for work.  Apparently in some years there was a move on 28th November as well.

Does anyone have any more information about this "Term Day"? How widespread was the practice? When it it start, and end? What sort of workers were involved?

This looks like an interesting piece of social history; it would be nice to know more.

Slainte
Gordon

[goldie61]

From 'Dictionary of the Scots language' website under 'flitting'

https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/flitting
'November 28 is the Scottish removal term, when domestic and farm servants change their employments, leases come to an end, and flittings are made.'

If you did it in the moonlight .............

Not to say it didn't happen on other Term dates too.

[goldie61]

This is from Chris Paton's blog - he is the font of all knowledge on all things Scottish (and Irish).
http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2018/08/sons-of-soil-scottish-agricultural.html

"Particularly skilled agricultural workers such as ploughmen would be hired at fairs across the country for six months or a year at a time, usually reckoned from one of the term days of Martinmas (in November) or Whitsun (in May), a practice which all but died out towards the end of the 19th century. Once hired the ploughman and his family would take up their new position from the appropriate term day and be given accommodation close to the farm, where they would reside until the end of the contract, at which point they would seek employment at the next fair, and so on, though some remained with the same masters for several years on recurring contracts"

Interesting to read it all though. Not long.

[goldie61]

More info about 'hiring fairs'
https://www.historyscotland.com/articles/features/farm-servants-and-the-hiring-fairs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiring_and_mop_fai

[Guy Etchells]

Term days or quarter days were used in many countries not just Scotland as hiring days.

In Ireland and Scotland the traditional Celtic cross-quarter days were used (Lughnasdh, 1 August, claimed to be the wedding of the Sun god Lugh to the Earth goddess, causing the ripening of crops). Samhain (1 November, the traditional day when the cattle were brought in from pasture). Imbolc (lambs’ milk) because the lambing season began, 1 February and Beltaine (1 May a time for the pairing of young couples, though they would not marry until Midsummer Day, June 24).

However Scotland varied from this Celtic practise slightly by Christianising it (Candlemas (2 February), Whitsunday (fixed as 15 May) Lammas (1 August)  Martinmas (11 November).

In England and Wales the Quarter days are Lady Day (25 March this used to be the start of the new year), Midsummer Day (24 June), Michaelmas (29 September) and Christmas (25 December).

These four days were traditional holidays; the spring and autumn days were used for hiring servant and workers, often at hiring fairs. Incidentally schools also used these days as the start of the school terms.

Quarter days are still significant today for instance the tax year starts on what was the 25 March under the Gregorian Calendar, i.e. 5th April in the Julian calendar.
Quarter days are still used for payment of land rents and leases etc.

Cheers
Guy

[Mowsehowse]

So interesting GUY, but....
QUOTE:"In England and Wales the Quarter days are Lady Day (25 March this used to be the start of the new year), Midsummer Day (24 June), Michaelmas (29 September) and Christmas (25 December).These four days were traditional holidays; the spring and autumn days were used for hiring servant and workers, often at hiring fairs. Incidentally schools also used these days as the start of the school terms."

I have always understood that our current 3 term school year, (beginning early January, April after Easter and early September,) fell into practise around the summer harvest time in August?? 

[Skoosh]

Gordon, these farms (ferm-toons) in the NE were huge & might have 6-8 pair of horse (clydesdales), the married men got cottages & the single men lived in the bothy. Their wages were supplemented by milk & potatoes & an agreed quantity of meal (oatmeal). They didn't want this meal at the one time & usually had an agreement with the miller to let them have it in batches when required or indeed sell it to  the miller.

 The land was originally let by a factor as crofts on an improving-lease whereby a specified area of waste had to be taken into cultivation each year, ( back-breaking work.) At the termination of that lease these crofts were consolidated into the big ferm-toons & let or sold eventually to farmers who sometimes added farm to farm & ended up, several generations down the line, wealthier than the absentee, spendthrift laird.

 The trilogy of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's,  "A Scots Quair!" being "Sunset Song, Cloud Howe & Grey Granite!" is an excellent introduction to the life of the people before mechanisation ended that way of life. A great read!

Skoosh.
 

[Forfarian]

I have always understood that our current 3 term school year, (beginning early January, April after Easter and early September,) fell into practise around the summer harvest time in August?? 

When I first went to school, in Scotland, the holidays were New Year (which usually began on Christmas Eve), Easter, summer (end of June to mid/late August) and the tattie (potato) holidays in mid October. The holidays were scheduled to allow schoolchildren to help with the soft fruit harvest in summer and the tattie harvest in autumn. All except the summer holidays were one or two weeks, and the 'Lower' and 'Higher' exams were held in May. (The corresponding exams still are - my 15-year-old neighbour just finished his exams last week.)

Later on I attended a school which was tied largely to the dates of the English 'O and 'A' level exams, which were in July. We had about three weeks' holiday over Christmas/New Year, four weeks in April, and then late July to mid-September. This meant we were cooped up in school at the best time of year, the early summer, and that the autumn term always seemed to loom very long, sometimes as long as 13 weeks without a break

I've just taken a keek at the current school dates for this area - the holidays in 2019/2020 are 14 to 25 October (2 weeks), 23 December to 3 January (2 weeks), 30 March to 10 April (two weeks) and 3 July to 17 August (six weeks plus 2 days).

According to Mr Google the English dates in 2019 are 17 to 20 February (1 week), 8 to 26 April (3 weeks), 27 to 31 May (1 week), 15 July to 6 September (8 weeks), 21 to 25 October (1 week), 23 December to 3 January (2 weeks). However at least one English school authority's dates don't quite match these, although they vary only by a few days either way.

[scotmum]

 The trilogy of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's,  "A Scots Quair!" being "Sunset Song, Cloud Howe & Grey Granite!" is an excellent introduction to the life of the people before mechanisation ended that way of life. A great read!

Skoosh.

Agreed.